06 February 2014

For Meralco Bolts fans waiting for any noteworthy news, there are none so far. There are none that actually involved game plans because after the team was knocked out of the playoff by the Alaska Aces, they have yet to resume practice.

It was a painful experience for the Bolts who, after trading potential stars that carried them to respectable finishes in the previous year, can only manage to finish second to the last in the current PLDT myDSL-PBA Philippine Cup.

There are rumors though about a possible coaching rigodon. It was reported by Richard Dy of Spin.ph that Talk ‘N Text deputy mentor Nash Racela may be moved to Meralco in a swap with Jong Uichico in a mini-exchange of coaching staff for the two ballclubs under the Manny V. Pangilinan group.

Of course there are no confirmations yet from both sides of the fence, but if ever this happens Racela has no qualms with it.

"Kung kailangan at kung saan makakatulong, siyempre, I’m just being a good soldier," Racela said to Spin.ph.

The online sports site also tried to get the side of Uichico, but the eight-time champion coach only gave a curt response, saying: "Not that I know of, but you just go and talk to (Meralco coach) Ryan (Gregorio) about that. He should know if there are any changes."

As a fan of Great Taste-Presto-Sta. Lucia-Meralco, I have one suggestion though. Why not try having Coach Boyet Fernandez call the shots for a year. The former professional basketball player was able to transform the Realtors into a Championship calibre team after a short stint and even gave them an All-Filipino crown at the expense of Ryan Gregorio’s former team, Purefoods.

In the PBA D-League, Fernandez is at the helm of the NLEX Road Warriors, a squad composed of the country’s top amateur stars, which he steered to four PBA D-League titles. NLEX Road Warriors is also part of the MVP group.

Coach Fernandez was also instrumental as the mentor of the San Beda Red Lions which have now won seven of the last eight NCAA Championships.

We have seen how Coach Gregorio handled the Bolts in the last four years and we have not seen any improvements, only demoralizing botched plays. Maybe it’s time to infuse new blood in the coaching staff after the attempt to overhaul failed to produce anything significant.

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PBA Advisory

2017 Commissioner's Cup Format

The tournament allows teams to hire foreign players or imports with a height limit of 6-foot-10.

The top 2 teams will earn twice-to-beat edges over Nos. 7 and 8 while the No. 3 against No. 6 and No. 4 versus No. 5 pairing will be a best-of-three affair in the quarterfinals.

The semifinal stage will have a pair of best-of-five matches and the finals will be a race-to-four affair.

Gilas Pilipinas

Manila will host one of the three tournaments in the 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament. The Philippine national men’s basketball team will try to pull off massive upsets against France, New Zealand, Canada, Turkey and Senegal in the competition slated on July 5 to July 10 at Mall of Asia Arena.

A total of 18 teams will participate in the three-nation event whose champions will book tickets to the 2016 Rio Olympics.